Railers second at home tourney

Friday

Apr 12, 2013 at 6:42 AMApr 12, 2013 at 6:42 AM

By Mark Schnabel Newton Kansan

Despite less than ideal conditions, the Newton Invitational boys’ golf tournament Thursday at Sand Creek Station provided some pretty good scores. Hutchinson edged Newton 330-333 for the team title of the 10-team tournament, Derby was third at 334, followed by Salina Central in fourth at 336 and Valley Center in fifth at 338. The Newton Gold squad finished ninth at 392. The tournament was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed because of rain. “It was a mental grind for them,” Newton coach Joanie Pauls said. “A lot of our guys had their worst holes on their first five.” Jack Lanham of Hutchinson finished in a three-way tie for first with Lane Pauls of Newton and Alan Joyal of Valley Center. Lanham shot a par four on the first playoff hole (No. 10) to win the three-way playoff. Joyal took second on the second playoff hole. “I didn’t start off to well, but not to badly,” Lane Pauls said. “I didn’t have anything over a bogey, which was important because of the conditions on the course. The greens were pretty bumpy. Most of it was about two-putting. I had one birdie on six, which was my second nine. I was able to stay even par on my last three. I bogeyed all the par 5s. Out here, those are birdie holes.” Lane Pauls was coming off a win at the Salina South Invitational Monday. He has medaled in all three tournaments at the start of the season. “My average is 76 in my first three tournament,” he said. “This is definitely my best out of all three, considering the conditions. The team has been playing pretty good. We have some younger guys stepping up. We took second at our last two tournaments by just a few strokes.” D.J. Anderson of the Newton Gold squad took fourth at 78. Cole Rother of Newton was fifth at 79. “Cole Rother started on 12 and was one under at one point,” Joanie Pauls said. “He was one I was really proud of. He shot a 36 on the front nine. He shot a 43 on the back, so he came back well. (Anderson) is a senior. This is his first varsity meet. He hasn’t been shooting like that early on, so this is a surprise. ... He’s been playing JV since his freshman year. He’s worked on his consistency. He can turn in a good score. That was a 12-shot improvement from his last tournament.” Rounding out the Newton scores were Omar Ramos-Thaw at 84, Dalton Ayers at 93, Avery Anderson at 93 and Alex Rickard at 95. Ramos-Thaw finished a stroke out of medal contention. “Our number two (Ayers) struggled today,” Joanie Pauls said. “We’ve been trying to work on our depth. Avery Anderson and Alex Rickard are sophomores and have been playing our five and six positions. Unfortunately, they struggled today. Having to count a 93 for our team score hurt us.” For the Newton Gold squad, Nick Hall shot a 98, folowed by Jared Gihring at 101 and Cory Lunow at 115. Newton returns to Sand Creek Station at 1 p.m. Tuesday for the Buhler Invitational. “We usually split our squad for Buhler, so our top three players won’t be there,” Joanie Pauls said. “That gives a chance for some of our others to get some playing time.”